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Les Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons) is a famous French epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, first published in 1782.
The book fascinates for its dark undertones. It is the story of the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, two characters whose games use sex as a weapon to humiliate and degrade others and seem to enjoy cruelty. It also depicts the decadence of the French aristocracy shortly before the French Revolution; thus it can be seen as an exposure of the perversions of the so called Ancient Regime.
The book is composed entirely of letters written by the various characters to each other. Especially the letters between Valmont and the Marquise tell the story but letters of other characters serve as illustrations and give the story it's body.
The novel has been translated into English several times with Douglas Parmée's recent translation (Oxford: OUP, 1995) generally being the preferred version.
The Plot
Vicomte de Valmont is determined to seduce the virtuous (and married) Madame de Tourvel, who is living with Madame de Rosemonde while M. Tourvel is traveling. At the same time, the Marquise de Merteuil is determined to corrupt the young Cecile de Volanges, who has only recently been brought out of a convent by her mother, Madame de Volanges, who wants to marry her off to a former lover of the Marquise. Instead, Cecile falls in love with the Chevalier Danceny, and Merteuil and Valmont pretend to want to help the secret lovers in order to use them in their schemes.
Valmont discovers, by blackmailing the maid of Madame de Tourvel, that Madame de Volanges wrote to de Tourvel about his bad reputation. Valmont revenges himself by helping the Marquise perverting Cecile. He also succeeds seducing Madame de Tourvel. The Marquise had promised Valmont to spent the night with him would he succeed with de Tourvel, but before fulfilling this promise she forces him to end his affair with de Tourvel and threatens his reputation. In the end it becomes clear that while Valmont played a cruel game with de Tourvel, the Marquise played a game with Valmont and forced him to break with de Tourvel, who he actually had loved. Also the Marquise exposes to Danceny that Valmont seduced Cecile. Danceny and Valmont duel and Valmont dies, but not before he finds a way to destroy the reputation of the Marquise by getting the letters published that compose the book.
Plays and movies
The novel has been made into a play by Christopher Hampton. It has also been filmed various times, under many different names:
- Les Liaisons dangereuses (1959), directed by Roger Vadim and starring Jeanne Moreau, Gérard Philipe, and Annette Vadim.
- Dangerous Liaisons (1988), directed by Stephen Frears and starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich, and Michelle Pfeiffer (based on Hampton's play)
- Valmont (1989), directed by Milos Forman and starring Annette Bening, Colin Firth, and Meg Tilly
- Cruel Intentions (1999), directed by Roger Kumble and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Philippe, and Reese Witherspoon (a modern reworking)
- Untold Scandal (2003), directed by Lee Je Yong and starring Lee Mik Suk, Jeon Do Yeon, and Bae Yong Jun (transposes the novel to eighteenth-century Korea, not unlike how Akira Kurosawa retold King Lear as Ran)
There have also been many television adaptations of the novel.
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